Avila To Critics: "You Can't Have It Both Ways"
By: Will Burchfield
@burchie_kid
Tigers GM Al Avila is well aware of his poor standing within the team's fanbase.
No matter what he does these days, he seems to incur criticism.
In the offseason, he was rebuked for not executing any big-time trades. When he did so this week, dealing J.D. Martinez to the Diamondbacks, he was rebuked for not getting enough in return.
The latter reaction is unfounded and unfair. Seriously -- how, at this point, can anyone claim there was more to be had for Martinez?
The market decides what a player is worth, not the team that owns him. That was a lesson learned in the offseason when the Tigers were trying to parlay some pricey veterans into much-needed prospects.
"Unfortunately, for different factors in the winter time, we just couldn't find the deals that we were comfortable with and the return that we wanted," Avila told MLB Network Radio. "People thought, 'You know what? They're asking for too much. That's why they didn't make a trade.' And I was criticized. Now we make this trade and (people) are criticizing because, 'You know what? You didn't get enough.' Well, you can't have it both ways.
"You gotta know exactly what you're asking for, when you're asking for it because timing is everything."
Aside from dealing Cameron Maybin and his $9 million option to the Angels, the Tigers kept their roster in tact in the offseason. They entered the 2017 campaign with the second-highest payroll in the majors, about $200 million.
They are committed to paring that down, but not in any kind of rash manner.
"You have to give credit to ownership for really sucking it up and putting the money forward and continuing to pay for this club," Avila said. "There has never really been a money issue. We wanna get leaner from a payroll perspective, but it's not like, 'Hey, dump salary, fire sale.' It never was that and it never will be because this ownership has always put up what is needed for this club.
"We just wanna run the club more responsibly as far as the finances (being) more commensurate with the type of market that we're actually in."
In return for Martinez, the Tigers received three infield prospects. One of them, 22-year-old Dawel Lugo, projects at the team's third baseman of the future. (Nicholas Castellanos is bound to move across the diamond, allowing Miguel Cabrera to become a full-time D.H.) The other two are far more uncertain propositions -- and Lugo is no guarantee himself -- but where there is risk there is often reward.
"It behooves everybody in this organization to realize that we gotta get younger. In today's baseball market, today's baseball world, you have to acquire young players, keep the best young players and try to win with those young players," Avila said.
"Now, sometimes you have to make some trades to acquire some veteran guys and get over the top," he went on. "Every team gets to that point and the teams that go out and get those kind of players usually then go into the playoffs and have a chance to win the World Series. That's basically the common sense philosophy of most clubs, and that's what we're trying to follow."
For the first time in a long time, the Tigers are operating with an eye toward the future. No one said a rebuild would be fun, but plenty acknowledged it was necessary.
There's no going back now that it's here.
